Gojek In Talks to Merge with Tokopedia - PingWest

Gojek In Talks to Merge with Tokopedia

Beijing (PingWest)- Indonesia’s ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek is discussing the term on merger deal with local e-commerce firm Tokopedia, Bloomberg reported, citing source close to the matter said.

The two parties will conduct due diligence for each other’s business as both sides are keen to close the deal as soon as possible in coming months, said the source, who asked not be identified because the discussions are private.

After the merger, the new entity would create an Indonesian internet giant with a valuation of more than USD18 billion. The new entity businesses cover a variety of areas including ride-hailing, payment, online shopping and delivery, which is sort of like a combination of Uber, Paypal, Amazon and DoorDash.

It also plans to go public in the U.S and Indonesia, it would be biggest rival of Sea Group whose share surged roughly 400 percent in the U.S last year, buoyed by the growing popularity of its mobile gaming and online shopping platform.

Gojek and Tokopedia have considered a potential merger since 2018, but it faced hurdle since then as Grab chief executive officer Anthony Tan continues to resist pressure from Softbank Group’s Masayoshi Son to give up some control in a combined entity with Gojek, the report said.

Softbank’s CEO and founder Masayoshi Son, who had been a big supporter of Tan in the past, is losing patience with the Grab co-founder’s unwillingness to give up some control and is now supporting a merger between Gojek and SoftBank-backed Tokopedia, the source said. The two home-grown tech giants were backed by common investors, including Google, Temasek Holdings and Sequoia Capital India.